Wilderness Walk: Addison Signed For One Year

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Addison is an uber-talented offensive player that has had a couple of defensive slip-ups, and therefore is not trusted a whole lot in key situations. 

This may be the kindest way to explain Addison's deficiencies. I'm not sure what "a couple" actually means here, but I would say it is less than "several" which I deem kind to Addison's defensive play.

Let's call a spade a spade and simply state that Addison's defensive game played him out of a position and into the Prossbox. The addition of Klingberg was because the Wild needed someone for his position, and someone who was at least willing to stand in the way of an opponent. 

I certainly hope Addison succeeds and has learned from his rookie campaign. He's got to be more physical, he's got to compete harder defensively, he's got to maintain good gaps, and he's got to win back pucks in his end. That may be a lot to digest, but it starts with one key ingredient: Upper body strength. Being dominated like he was in his own end showed how weak he really is.

Does his offensive talent trump his defensive deficiencies? That's the whole debate we've had here. Many suggest yes, and give him sheltered minutes and starts. I, along with many others suggest no, he needs to change (not keep doing what he was doing). 

I would look forward to training camp to see how he looks. If I'm a young forward trying to make the team, I'm hoping to line up against him as a defender and physically dominate him. He should see his fair share of battles in camp. If I'm a young defender trying to make the squad, I make doubly sure I take care of my end first and make the case that I won't be a liability. 

The hard thing is starting from 0 for Addison. He already has a reputation, both on the big club and in the minors. It's hard to ignore that body of work when evaluating him, so, defensively, I'd say Addison is starting camp in negative territory. What that means for him is he will have "extra opportunities" to prove his reputation wrong. At $825k, I wonder what he looked like when he went up to Shooter's office? I believe that meeting was extremely important for Guerin, because if Addy doesn't look significantly bigger, his next step is start calling other GMs....especially if a Lambos and Hunt look ready in camp!

4 hours ago, mnfaninnc said:

This may be the kindest way to explain Addison's deficiencies. I'm not sure what "a couple" actually means here, but I would say it is less than "several" which I deem kind to Addison's defensive play.

Let's call a spade a spade and simply state that Addison's defensive game played him out of a position and into the Prossbox. The addition of Klingberg was because the Wild needed someone for his position, and someone who was at least willing to stand in the way of an opponent. 

I certainly hope Addison succeeds and has learned from his rookie campaign. He's got to be more physical, he's got to compete harder defensively, he's got to maintain good gaps, and he's got to win back pucks in his end. That may be a lot to digest, but it starts with one key ingredient: Upper body strength. Being dominated like he was in his own end showed how weak he really is.

Does his offensive talent trump his defensive deficiencies? That's the whole debate we've had here. Many suggest yes, and give him sheltered minutes and starts. I, along with many others suggest no, he needs to change (not keep doing what he was doing). 

I would look forward to training camp to see how he looks. If I'm a young forward trying to make the team, I'm hoping to line up against him as a defender and physically dominate him. He should see his fair share of battles in camp. If I'm a young defender trying to make the squad, I make doubly sure I take care of my end first and make the case that I won't be a liability. 

The hard thing is starting from 0 for Addison. He already has a reputation, both on the big club and in the minors. It's hard to ignore that body of work when evaluating him, so, defensively, I'd say Addison is starting camp in negative territory. What that means for him is he will have "extra opportunities" to prove his reputation wrong. At $825k, I wonder what he looked like when he went up to Shooter's office? I believe that meeting was extremely important for Guerin, because if Addy doesn't look significantly bigger, his next step is start calling other GMs....especially if a Lambos and Hunt look ready in camp!

Appreciate your restraint and not referring to Addison’s thickness

I like Addy for now, but he's a short time fix for a long time solution once Lambos arrives!